YORKSHIRE are to hold emergency talks next week with star batsman Anthony McGrath, who is unhappy with how the club is being managed and is understood to be wanting to leave.

But chief executive Stewart Regan said that McGrath still had two years on his contract to run and Yorkshire did not want to release him.

Confirming for the first time that McGrath had a problem at the club, Regan, currently on holiday, told The Press: "Anthony has spoken to one or two of the players and also to chairman, Colin Graves, and made it known that he is not particularly happy with the situation at the club, but he is under contract and we want him to stay.

"I will be meeting him next Monday or Tuesday to discuss the situation and hopefully we will be able to sort things out because we certainly don't want him to leave."

Regan said he did not believe that there was a players' revolt at Headingley but he admitted that the decision a few weeks' ago not to renew Richard Blakey's contract had not gone down well with the players.

"I think this is part of the problem, along with one or two other things, but we are going through a period of change at the moment and I am confident that the situation will resolve itself," he added.

McGrath remained unavailable for comment yesterday but it would certainly be a hammer blow for Yorkshire if the 31-year-old were to leave his native county.

Now that Darren Lehmann, has ended his long association with the club, McGrath is by far their most accomplished batsman - as he demonstrated last season with 1,293 Championship runs with four centuries and nine half-centuries at an average of 61.57.

He captained Yorkshire in 2003 but unselfishly stood down from the post because he felt that playing for England at the time meant he could not concentrate fully on his county duties.

McGrath would be the obvious choice to have another crack at the captaincy now that Craig White has stood down - if the club were appointing from within the present playing squad.

But it seems as though director of cricket David Byas is keen to bring in someone to take over the role although it appears as if Pakistan's acting captain Younis Khan will not be in charge even if he does join Yorkshire as an overseas player next season.

Yorkshire have got into a muddle over Younis. They still decline to say whether he will be at Headingley in 2007 but sources back in Pakistan insist that he has signed a one-year contract.

As well as having a disenchanted McGrath to deal with, Yorkshire have still not persuaded left-hander Michael Lumb to renew his contract and it would be nothing short of disastrous if both were to leave.

Byas' dedication to Yorkshire is beyond question but it would not reflect well on his style of management if McGrath and Lumb were to join other top players who have left the club in recent years, including Chris Silverwood, Ryan Sidebottom and Steve Kirby.

It may be that in order to smooth things out, Yorkshire will have to consider keeping Byas in overall charge while bringing in someone to be directly responsible for the running of the first team.